Essence of a Dragon
by StandUpStandOut
Summary: 6 months after the Red Death has been slain by Hiccup and Toothless, a strange girl is washed upon the shore of dragon friendly Berk. Could she really just be a shipwreck survivor, or is she something more? Toothless seems to think so. Toothless/OC
1. Chapter 1

This is my first fanfiction that I've uploaded…if it's good let me know, any constructive criticism is welcome, please review and let me know what you think, if enough people like it I'll keep going, if not well, I'll just try again lol

Ps. This is a love story between Toothless and the girl (my OC), and there will most likely be some Hiccup/Astrid in later chapters

Disclaimer: I do not own How To Train Your Dragon, or any of the characters, though I wish I did

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It'd been 6 months since the battle with the Red Death; Hiccup had finally gotten used to his prosthetic leg and could at least walk around without help or falling everywhere. Even so, he preferred flights on Toothless, the cool summer air flowing through his hair and whisking away the need to walk.

Today was starting out like any other day when Hiccup woke up earlier than everyone else, the memory of the battle suddenly fresher than it had been on that day. He sighed and nudged Toothless lightly to wake him up. Toothless yawned widely and gave a stretch before uncurling and stepping down to look at Hiccup blearily. Hiccup smiled and got up, attaching his prosthesis first before standing and rubbing Toothless' head, "Come on buddy, let's go for a ride before breakfast." The look Toothless gave him conveyed that 'before breakfast' wasn't something that ranked high on his fun list, but the idea of a flight still made him fidget with excitement as he waited for Hiccup to get his gear on and grab Toothless' saddle.

Quietly, so as not to wake his father, Hiccup and Toothless walked to the door and slid out, Hiccup gently closing it behind them. With a relieved sigh, Hiccup led Toothless a little ways down the hill before fastening on the saddle, "Alright bud, you ready?" After a nod from Toothless, Hiccup swung up onto his back and fastened his feet into the stirrups, the prosthesis clicking into the controls for the tail fin. Toothless took off into the air with a powerful beat of his black wings, momentarily flattening the grass around them.

From above there was a perfect view of the rising sun. The horizon streaked with pinks and oranges that seemed to chase the night sky away. The cool air rushed over Hiccup and Toothless, so that Hiccup put his arms up to feel the light clouds above them. His dragon soared high and soft, bugling gently. Hiccup smiled and lowered his arms to rub Toothless' neck, "Come on, let's go a bit faster." With a dragon smile and a click of metal Toothless took off around the island and over the sea, swooping low and high. Hiccup let out a whoop and a laugh as Toothless angled and dipped the tip of his left wing into the waves, causing ocean spray to sprinkle over them. Toothless' low rumbling laugh shook Hiccup lightly before the dragon angled back up away from the water and to the sky again. Hiccup let out a contented sigh and Toothless slowed down, turning back towards Berk, "Well that was fun, wasn't it?" Toothless nodded in assent and flapped his 'ears', "Yup, nothing like cold ocean spray to wake you up…" mused Hiccup, relaxing in the saddle and looking ahead of him as the island came back into sight.

It was then that he saw it, there was something lying on the beach, the waves just barely lapping against it. He couldn't make out what it was from so high and urged Toothless to move closer. When he was still rather high up the details came more into focus and he could just barely make out the shape of..a girl! That was a human, "Toothless, quick land on the beach!" He clicked the tail fin into place just as Toothless angled down and no sooner had Toothless touched to the sandy ground did Hiccup jump down and try to race over. But, his prosthesis wasn't too accommodated to the loose sand and instead of racing he fell flat onto his face, "and the rescuer needs the rescuing." He said sarcastically as Toothless knelt his head down to help Hiccup up and guide his rider over to the beached girl, "Thanks buddy…" He mumbled, attention brought to the girl as he let go of Toothless and dropped to his knees beside her. He couldn't tell if she was alive or dead, her face was turned away from him and her dress was so thin and soaked it was practically transparent. Blush crept up onto his cheeks and he quickly removed his fur vest to put over her as he gently rolled her over onto her back.

Her eyes were closed and her soft lips were tinged slightly blue. Hiccup gulped, preoccupied by how beautiful she was. She reminded him of some sort of goddess in the gentle way her face was constructed, each detail pristine and smoothed. He reached out and touched her cheek lightly, amazed at how soft her skin was beneath his finger tips. It was like touching the finest silk, feeling the softest down and despite how much cold he could feel radiating from her he couldn't bring himself to pick her up. It was as if she had entrapped him in some sort of trance, stealing all his motor ability away from him at that moment. Toothless' soft bugle awoke him from his temporary state and he blinked, startled now to see Toothless nudging the girl with his nose and licking her face with his forked tongue. "Toothless! Cut that out." Hiccup pushed him away gently, confused momentarily that Toothless had taken such a liking to the girl so fast.

In response, Toothless bugled again and nudged at the girl a second time despite Hiccup's disapproval,

"Well come on then, help me get her up…" Hiccup softened and with Toothless' help managed to get the girl and himself up onto the saddle. Carefully he positioned her small body in his arms, wrapping her tightly in his warm vest and holding her close to him. Toothless looked at him, "What? She needs to be kept warm, my body heat should help with that." Toothless flicked his ears then took off into the air, flying the short distance up to the village.

Hiccup looked down at the girl. He didn't recognize her at all, and she seemed so delicate, too delicate to be a normal Viking girl. She didn't look any older than him, probably younger, but not by much. There were no marks of injury, and no sign of any shipwreck nearby, so how in Odin's name did she end up at Berk?


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's the second chapter! Finally! Haha, first I want to say THANK YOU sooo much for the reviews ^^ they encouraged me a lot and were the push that got me to continue writing this, I was so worried it might flop and as requested I tried to make this chapter longer, but it was kinda hard for me, so I did my best, I hope you continue to like this story and I'll try to get quicker at updating**

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Hiccup tucked the covers around the girl again and rubbed her shoulders, it was as warm as it could be in the house but she still wasn't waking up. Two days and she hadn't moved a muscle, but then again neither had Toothless. Ever since Hiccup had laid the girl down Toothless had refused to get off of the bed, sticking to staying curled up beside her, his tail draped over her legs like a sort of protection. This left Hiccup stuck between feeling plain curious or just a little jealous of how his dragon never left the girl's side. He'd never seen him act that way towards another human being, especially a complete stranger, he'd gotten rather used to being Toothless' only companion.

As he was watching Toothless a sudden movement startled him and he looked down to see that the girl had moved. Toothless must have noticed it too because no sooner had Hiccup looked down did Toothless lift his head and look at the girl expectantly. A low sort of 'mhur' noise came out of her as she shifted about, rolling to her side before she stretched. It took her another second before her eyes opened and she looked right up at Hiccup.

He gulped and stared at her, taken by the electric blue eyes that stared back at him. They were large and doe-like, and their initial confusion melted away to the same fear he had seen reflected in Toothless'. It was the fear that knocked him out of his state this time, "It's okay…no one's going to hurt you. You're safe-" Before he could finish, Toothless had nudged the girl, causing her to nearly jump out of her skin. And the bed. She scrambled off the foot of the bed and began to swiftly back away. Startled, Hiccup blinked and slowly stood up, walking around to the foot of the bed so he was facing her with nothing in the way, "Don't be afraid, he's harmless really, sort of like a big scaly dog-"

Toothless looked at the girl and tilted his head before pouncing down onto the ground and walking up to her. "Oh, no, come on buddy, you're not helping." Hiccup hurried forward to push Toothless back, the closeness of both of them causing the girl to trip and fall flat on her bum in her hurry to get away. Obviously frightened, she stared up at both of them, eyes darting from the scrawny boy to the eager dragon. She snarled lightly at the latter, taking Hiccup by surprise as he looked down at her. It must've been Toothless though because when he looked at the girl she didn't appear to have made a noise. Irritated, Hiccup pushed on Toothless, nudging him towards the door,

"Alright, obviously, I'm going to have to introduce you two later because you can't calm down. Really Toothless what has gotten into you?" He opened the door and guided Toothless out of the hut, "Stay right out here until I say so." He ordered, having to quickly close the door as Toothless made a move to get back out.

With his back against the door he turned to look at the girl who had receded back into a corner of the hut farthest from him and sighed, "He isn't like that normally. I'm sorry. Here, let's try again." Talking softly, like he was talking to a wild animal Hiccup moved towards the girl, surprised again by how she recoiled into the corner and narrowed her eyes at him. He quickly paused and looked at her for a moment,

"Uhm, my name's Hiccup. Yeah I know not the most terrific name, but it could be worse."

The girl tilted her head and seemed to relax a bit when Hiccup stayed put, his voice low and somewhat soothing to her. Fear faded slightly from her neon eyes and she crept forward slightly, curiosity getting to her. Hiccup watched her with a slight smile, realizing he was getting through to her, but his smile faded when she suddenly recoiled again, her eyes trained on his right side. Blinking, Hiccup looked down and pulled back his vest to reveal the knife he kept there. How had she known that was there? He glanced over at her, the feral fear filled look back in place as she glared at the knife. Her stance reminded him of someone, but he couldn't quite place who as he slowly withdrew the knife and dropped it on the ground. He watched the way her eyes followed it and using the tip of his prosthesis he lifted the knife and kicked it away,

"There you are, nothing to be afraid of now." He tried to offer her a smile to make that fear disappear again and smiled wider when it did, "so uhm, what's your name anyway?"

She blinked and tilted her head again, frowning as she thought. Then she shrugged. She didn't have the faintest clue how to tell him her name.

"You…don't remember it?"

Another thoughtful frown then a nod of her head, she did remember it.

"Oh! Well then what is it?"

Her lips moved but no sound came out and the confused look that Hiccup gave her meant he wasn't very good at lip reading. So with a huff she tried it slower, again just the confused look so she gave up, throwing her hands into the air and plopping down with her arms folded.

"…Can't you speak?"

She shook her head then paused and nodded, but then shook it again.

"I don't get it, can you or can't you?"

A final shake of her head affirmed that she couldn't, at least not in a language any human would understand.

"Okay, so you can't talk, and I don't read lips…can you write?"

The confused look she gave him made him feel a little stupid for asking even though it was a perfectly acceptable question, "Alright, can't talk, can't write, this is going to be difficult…" As he pondered how to communicate with her, she began to sneak forward. Attention drawn to the metal on his left leg. Keeping her partial attention on him she paused and reached forward to touch it, jolting him out of his thoughts to look down at her. How did he not notice that?

"Uhm…yeah, that's my prosthesis. You know, an artificial foot. Gobber made it for me after…er after I lost my real foot in a battle…" He sighed, watching as she studied it though he was really trying not to think about how much he didn't care for his foot's substitute. Slowly he started to kneel down to her, perhaps at eye level this might be easier, but no sooner had he started to kneel did she quickly recoil and retreat back to her corner.

"Well that worked" He said dryly as he straightened up, "At this rate we're not going to get anywhere are we?" He began pacing, trying to figure out how to communicate with the girl, or at least get her to stop being so jumpy. What was with her anyway? She wasn't really acting like any normal human he knew, then again what normal human was found washed up on a beach? Which brought him to another question, how did she get here? And how was he going to figure it out if she couldn't talk to him. Pausing, he turned to look over at her, noticing that she had been watching him the whole time. The wide eyed, curious expression and her stance were so familiar, as if he had seen it before. In fact, he had seen it before, including the behavior, for the love of Odin! All he had to do was slap some wings on her, a few scales, and a tail and he'd have Toothless on their first meeting! Perfect! He knew exactly what to do now.

Walking away, he went over and sat down on the edge of the bed, ignoring her as he had done to Toothless that evening. He decided he wouldn't try to draw a picture of her, but maybe just sitting there would get the desired reaction.

For more than an hour now the girl had remained still in her corner and Hiccup was just about to give up when suddenly she came forward to him, her steps small and hesitant. So he didn't startle her Hiccup kept pretending not to notice her movement, not even when she knelt down and tilted her head up to look at him.

After just a second, she nudged his knee with her hand, "Mhur?"

Instead of responding to her Hiccup chose to lay back on his bed with his arms folded behind his head and was satisfied by the little irritated noise she made when he ignored her. No one liked to be ignored, not even odd little girls. Though, he soon realized, she not only didn't like being ignored but she also wouldn't tolerate it for too long. Soon after he laid down she clambered right up beside him and smacked her hands down onto his chest, which even though it had begun to bulk out just a bit over the past 6 months, it still made his air woosh out for a second, "Oof!"

"Mhur?" With a tilt of her head she looked down at him, eyes bright and big as she leaned down.

"ah, uhm hey, I take it you're not so afraid anymore huh?" Hiccup gulped slightly, realizing just how close she was now. His next breath brought in a sweet swirl of tingly pine needles and warm vanilla, tinged with something sharper and wilder. But he couldn't truly place it. As he was trying to figure it out, a soft rumble brought him to look down at her stomach, which she was staring at like thunder had just erupted from it. Her innocently shocked expression melted away his awkwardness and made him laugh. The laugh made her startle and look up at him with the same expression she'd given her stomach, "You act like you've never heard your stomach rumble before…okay maybe you haven't." He gave her a curious look as he gently nudged her off him and stood up, "Come on, I'll get you something to eat." Slowly he held his hand out for her to take and a grin spread when she hesitantly but finally took hold of it, allowing him to help her up from the bed and guide her to where their food was kept. Already Hiccup could tell this was going to be an interesting adventure, but what he didn't know was just how much of an adventure he'd signed himself and Toothless up for.

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**Heh, okay, I hope that was slightly longer, and I apologize for my writing style I've spent the past 5 years role-playing so my actual story writing is a little rusty, but I hope this chapter wasn't too bad ^^ and that ya'll continue to review cause they really encourage me!**

**And don't worry soon the girl will actually have a name**


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, so here is the third chapter, I am SOOOOOO sorry it has taken so long to get this up and that it is still surprisingly short…I have the attention span of a retarded gopher and the past two weeks have been rather insane . but Christmas break is coming and as long as I'm not getting distracted by the closest shiny thing…then I'll have either one big chapter, or at least two new chapters by the end of the break lol, no promises, but that's my goal…I want to thank everyone that's added this story to their alert list or has reviewed, it means a lot to me, and if not for you guys I probably wouldn't have even updated this..thank you **

Hiccup was beginning to believe he'd found the pickiest eater in the entire world. He'd gone through possibly all of their food options and she had turned down every idea with an adorable yet frustrating face of disgust. Finally having reached his absolute frustration point, Hiccup threw up his hands and turned his back on her, "I've gone through everything! This is all the food we have. What else could you possibly eat?" When he turned back around he paused, watching with utter shock and amazement as she tore little pieces off of a raw salmon and started nibbling at it, "…fish? Raw fish? Really?" He walked back over to her and knelt down, since she had taken back to sitting on the floor, and stared at her for a second. She kept eye contact with him but never stopped nibbling at the salmon, and once it was gone she rummaged around for another fish which she promptly started picking apart and feasting on. "Well, uhm, alright. Either you're just too hungry to wait for me to cook that, or you really enjoy raw fish." He mused, grabbing a few more fish and setting them down for her before closing everything up and standing, "Okay, you finish eating, I'll be right back."

The girl watched Hiccup warily as he walked away and out the door, turning twice to make sure she was still eating before slowly shutting the door behind him. She could hear the dragon on the other side moving and Hiccup reprimanding him about something. With a shake of her head she continued eating her fish and looking around her surroundings. This place was still strange but no longer as frightening to her thanks to Hiccup's kindness. He had reminded her of someone from her past, but she couldn't quite remember who. She gave up after a few moments and quickly finished the rest of the fish before standing up and stretching. Giving her head a little scratch, she went over to the door and tentavily put a hand on the handle, wondering what would happen if she opened it. She was intelligent enough to know on the other side was the outdoors and her hearing was good enough that she knew the night fury was still out there. All she had to do was press her ear to the door and she could tell that he was laying down now, curled up to the right of the door way, though he wasn't asleep. His breathing wasn't even enough.

She straightened up and took in a breath, which she slowly released, readying herself to attack if she had to. The boy may be friendly but she wasn't too sure about the dragon, he was much too pushy for her taste and had frightened her at first. So, after steeling herself she took hold of the handle again and slowly opened it just enough to slip out into the cold air.

In her pale blue silk dress, it didn't take her very long to lose all the warmth she had gained from the house, but she didn't have any time to fully register it. Because, even though she had prepared herself for attack, all the fish had made her a little too at ease and Toothless had no trouble pouncing on her unexpectedly. His attack was controlled and not as rough as she expected it to be, but all the same she let out a night fury screech and disregarding her lack of claws or dragon strength began to struggle and attempt to scratch at his scaly hide. Her struggles made Toothless tilt his head as he held her down rather easily. He didn't quite understand what she was doing, or trying to do, or why she looked like a human when she quite so obviously smelt like a dragon. He knelt his head down to nuzzle and sniff her, but was quickly batted away, causing him to snort and look down a little startled. The girl glowered up at him and hissed, revealing not very, but slightly pointed teeth. The next noise she made was a collection of vibrating clicks that to Toothless sounded like,

'_Get off of me! I don't like you!'_

'_Why do you smell like a dragon? You appear like a human.'_

'_It isn't any concern of yours, now off of me. I'm only looking for the human who saved me…Hiccup.'_

This time it was Toothless who growled a bit_, 'What do you want with Hiccup?'_

'_Nothing. He saved me, I know him…now off.' _She pushed at him again and tried to squirm free but Toothless continued to hold her down, refusing to let her up yet. He knelt his head down again to sniff below her chin, which made her strain to move her head away.

'_Tell me why you smell like a dragon-' _

"Toothless! Get off of her!" Hiccup came hurrying up the stairs as fast as he could and pulled Toothless off of the girl. Stoick wasn't too far behind him and helped the girl up, using his large dish plate hands to dust her off, his strength nearly knocking her over,

"Ye airight?" He asked gruffly as Hiccup reprimanded his dragon and made sure he'd stay put before walking over to the girl and his father. He noticed that the girl looked tense and more rigid than a piece of wood and was looking at his father with the same fear filled expression she'd given him earlier. Slowly, he edged her away from his dad and she quickly skittered behind him,

"Uhm, she's..easily..frightened…dad this is er….Mute."

She blinked and looked around then up at him with an expression that questioned his sanity. He shrugged at her briefly before returning to introductions, "Mute, this is my dad…Stoick..the Vast, the chief of the village."

Chief was what mainly registered in her mind, and without thinking she recoiled farther back behind Hiccup. It was another word, another sense that pulled out emotions, but instead of sadness or guilt, she was filled with fear and distrust. She realized she should remember something, something important, something from the past. But she couldn't remember what it was, nor could she really remember anything. How did she end up here?

"Looks like it's gonna be awhile before she starts talkin to me eh?" grinned Stoick after he noticed the way Mute had hidden behind Hiccup. Mute what an odd name for a girl.

"Actually da-"

"No matter, ye can stay for as long as ye want. Hiccup make sure she's fed plenty, looks as if she hasn't eaten in weeks, all skin and bones. And get her some warm clothes, that dress isn't anything to be wearin in the winter."

Mute glanced down at herself, feeling a bit criticized. She wasn't that skinny…okay maybe she was, but there was nothing wrong with her dress.

"But da-"

"I'll see ye both at dinner, perhaps she'll be up to talkin then, I'm curious as to how ye ended up washed up on a beach." As Stoick headed back down the steps away from the house Hiccup and Mute could hear him chuckling to himself, "Mute…what a name for a girl. I swear, Vikings now a days and namin their kids."

"…says the man who named his son Hiccup." Hiccup said dryly, turning around to look at Mute who's look of curiosity faded to incredulous as she looked at him. She made a little vibration noise in the back of her throat and crossed her arms, turning her back on him, "What? I couldn't think of anything better, and it's not like it's that bad. I mean, I thought it was sort of cute, better than Hiccup or Fishlegs anyway, wouldn't you say?"

Mute thought about that for a second, then slowly uncrossed her arms and turned back around to nod at him. He definitely could've picked a worse name.

"Good…ok, so I obviously can't leave you here with Toothless." He shot a slight glare over at his dragon, who blinked and tilted his head, almost innocently asking 'what'd I do?', "so uhm how about a tour of the village? Not that there's a lot to really see but-"

Mute looked a bit doubtful until she glanced over at Toothless, who made a low vibrating noise, _'You can't go anywhere with him'_

'_watch me.'_ She promptly grabbed Hiccup's hand pulling him down the steps quickly, and shocking him out of marveling at Toothless and into catching himself.

"I guess we're touring the village." He said, catching his footing and hurrying along beside her. He had no idea where all her sudden energy and excitement came from since just a few moments ago she had been using him for a shield, but he wasn't going to question it.

Mute smiled and glanced over her shoulder to stick her tongue out at Toothless, who growled and shook out his wings before bounding down after them. Shocked, Mute put her tongue away quickly and began to run faster, but slowed a bit by Hiccup and her own human body limitations, Toothless was soon by her side and passing her. She growled at the way he was laughing, and let go of Hiccup's hand so she could run faster, trying to get ahead of Toothless.

Hiccup blinked and stumbled once she let go of him, "Oh-hey! Toothless cut that ou-what are..wait up!" He groaned and tried to run faster, but his prosthesis didn't go as fast as a regular foot and it began to hurt, "for the love of…Toothless stop!" He gave a futile yell before finally just stopping to catch his breath, "That was-so-odd." Panting, he fixed his prosthesis before speed walking after them. However, the dragon and girl had already raced out of sight.


End file.
